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Is Gen X past it?

NAB chief Cameron Clyne's recent resignation at the age of 46 made me stop and think. Here's a man, a member of generation X – people born between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s – ostensibly at the peak of his career, walking away from it.

It got me thinking that it's entirely possible that Generation X's time may have been and gone. A scary thought as I'm one of them.

Did the baby boomers, people born from the mid-1940s to the mid 60s, stay in the top jobs too long, denying Gen X its time in the sun? Perhaps the heirs apparent to leadership roles are now Generation Ys – people born from the early 80s to the mid-90s.

Amber Daines: Gen X is reassessing.

They're the ones that know and understand technology. They're still young enough to have lots of energy and drive. And it seems to me, they were born to rule.

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Author and public speaker Sally Thibault has given presentations on this topic. She says one of the problems Gen X faces is that it is a small generation squeezed in between the larger baby boomer and Gen Y groups. In fact, she says boomers and Ys have a lot in common.

"Generation X is all about getting on with it, but they also have a tendency to micro manage. The Ys need feedback and boomers get this because they grew up in an era of self-discovery. Gen Y is the first generation that called their parents' friends by their first names, so they also have no hesitation knocking on the door of the MD," she says.

Gen Yer Jordan Grives, 25, the CEO of call centre business Fonebox, agrees with Thibault. He says in his experience, Xers constantly need updates and are prone to micro-managing.

"They want to know the intricacies and getting them to understand technology can be a challenge."

Grives doesn't agree Gen X is past it. "They come in handy for life experience. They also get more respect straight away, whereas Ys have to fight for it."

He says in fields such as the professions where experience matters Xers are still at the top of their game. But in industries where technology is the driving force they may well be bypassed for people from younger generations.

But Amber Daines, CEO of Bespoke Communications, says the decision by people like Clyne to step aside at such a young age has more to do with family priorities than not being up to the job.

"There have been a few recent high profile examples of Generation X CEOs leaving top jobs when they are in their 40s, when they want to spend time with their young family. The around-the-clock demands of being a CEO don't gel too well with family commitments," says Daines.

"It's interesting men are making these decisions to step back from chasing the bigger corporate jobs. It's not just women raising families now. In my case my husband and I both have demanding careers and ambitions outside the home but really do co-parent in a way that would have been rare 20 years ago," she adds.

Daines says Xers' fathers – the boomers – chased dream jobs or started successful businesses and were often not around much when their kids grew up.

"Gen X has learnt from this. Even if you don't have a family to raise, many of us have been working long hours building our careers relentlessly for 15 to 20 years now. It makes sense we are reassessing. I started my business when I was 31 as I craved workplace flexibility even before I had children."

According to Daines, it's a shame Australian business culture is so ageist. "In the US there are plenty of CEOs in their 80s and US vice president Joe Biden is 71, which shows experience can outweigh youthful enthusiasm."

She argues that if Gen Y is being courted for senior management roles, then it should be because they are competent, willing to be held accountable and the best people for the job.

"Age should never be the deciding factor when hiring for management roles," she says.

What do you think? Has Gen X's time been and gone?

137 comments so far

its worth remembering that Gen X was at the forefront of the tech boom and were the first to embrace tech on a wide scale, by doing so it certainly made the internet commercially viable. Accordingly, we are hardly intimidated by some inter generational competition.Gen X are also the first generation to travel extensively on mass (ie. across all socio economic levels) and this has blessed us with an unrivalled perspective on life.It occurs to me that the trend of Gen X (men in particular) leaving "careers" reflects that life perspective in that the corporate pound of flesh doesn't get rewarded in a way, let alone magnitude, that makes us happy in life.As for Jordan and his irrational fear of "They want to know the intricacies ...", sounds like they want to expend some critical thought to understand how things work, nothing wrong with that in any work environment, lest perhaps you can't really explain what you do in the first place...

Surely the thing we should be past is this generational twaddle? 99% of all the "generational" attitudes is just age related behaviour. Technology changes the specifics of how we interact, but all the Gen Ys I know and work with behave more or less the same as Genx Xers did 15-20 years ago.

Clyne has preached work life balance at NAB and is now walking the talk so good on him.

Commenter

Philistine

Location

London, was Sydney

Date and time

May 09, 2014, 5:53PM

Rob, Gen X are a majority of Gen Y's parents. If Gen Y prioritise status and Gen X prioritise family, that means Gen X didn't do a very good job of prioritising family. Maybe you should have a think and post again.

Commenter

was public now private

Date and time

May 09, 2014, 11:19PM

As a BB, I had to laugh at this. Gen X used to have a sense of entitlement that meant they believed they should be in charge NOW. They thought their parents' generation that had given them so much should also quietly vanish from the workforce and give their jobs away as well. Young Gen X believed it had so much talent (as everyone had always told them) that they didn't need experience. Now since turning 40 and having kids they are shocked to find that Gen Y have the same lack of respect for experience as they once did. And they are stuck between the BBs staying in the workforce longer and Gen Y being the ones who want to rise to the top NOW. The funniest thing is that (in my experience) Gen Y are actually happy to wait for the BBs to retire, but not to wait that long that the Gen Xs have retired.

Commenter

isteve

Date and time

May 10, 2014, 1:55PM

@waspublicnowprivate, Gen Ys are (mostly) born to young or late in reproducing Baby Boomers, or young Baby Busters. Most Gen Xs (born early 70's to mid 80's) are not predominantly parents of Gen Ys (mid 80's to end of 90's). Gen Xs, on the whole, are the parents of the completely awesome Millenials - born after 2000. Our efforts of child raising are yet to be evaluated.

Commenter

sunflower

Date and time

May 10, 2014, 9:35PM

@sunflower... I was always under the impression that Gen Y and Millenial were pretty much interchangeable - as in, Millenials come of age around the millenium, not born after 2000.But that could just be this Gen Xer getting all befuddled and shy and retiring as I grapple with the realisation my generation is doomed...

Commenter

MrT

Date and time

May 13, 2014, 10:18AM

"Gen Yer Jordan Grives, 25, the CEO of call centre business Fonebox, agrees with Thibault. He says in his experience, Xers constantly need updates and are prone to micro-managing."

A quick google search shows that Fonebox has 14 employees. Grives is 25. Doesn't sound like a lot of "experience" with which to be making sweeping judgments on a whole generation.

Commenter

Get a Grip

Date and time

May 09, 2014, 5:57AM

that is gen y all over. Im the ceo of my company which is just me. the generation of you came last but here is a gold star you clever little thing.I havent met a gen y yet that had any talent and from someone in the "real world" dont see these talentless bunch ever getting anywhere. A fact I know they are coming to realise as their tattooed and pierced bodies and bag full of apple products hasnt done anything for them. their widening sagging balding bodies are approaching 40 and their debts are high with little to show for it.what do they have to show for it? 2 dogs costing them a fortune each year a 2nd hand euro car worth nothing and a heap of expensive clothes to go with the inevitable turntable and collection of vinyl - because they are "cool".. they trudge off to the same job they have had for the last 5-10 years with zero enthusiasm for anythng other than getting wasted on friday night realising they will never have what they thought they would and will always be just a minor a cog in the machine. nothing else.meanwhile gen x got on with it and were never as pretentious and "look at me" "look at me" how wonderful am I whilst falling for every marketing trick in the book.they can now add to their misery knowing they will never get a pension and most likely never get access to their super whilst paying more taxes and fees than any other generation before. welcome to the real world.

Commenter

smilingjack

Date and time

May 09, 2014, 8:20AM

Just another GenY twerp who thinks his useless interwebz add-on business is something special.

He'll be bankrupt in a few years.

Any business that has someone under 30 as even a mid-level manager isn't a real business.